Updated openssl packages that fix three security issues are now available for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6. The Red Hat Security Response Team has rated this update as having important security impact. Common Vulnerability Scoring System base scores, which give detailed severity ratings, are available for each vulnerability from the CVE links in the References section. OpenSSL is a toolkit that implements the Secure Sockets Layer and Transport Layer Security protocols, as well as a full-strength, general purpose cryptography library. A flaw was found in the way OpenSSL determined which hashing algorithm to use when TLS protocol version 1.2 was enabled. This could possibly cause OpenSSL to use an incorrect hashing algorithm, leading to a crash of an application using the library. It was discovered that the Datagram Transport Layer Security protocol implementation in OpenSSL did not properly maintain encryption and digest contexts during renegotiation. A lost or discarded renegotiation handshake packet could cause a DTLS client or server using OpenSSL to crash. A NULL pointer dereference flaw was found in the way OpenSSL handled TLS/SSL protocol handshake packets. A specially crafted handshake packet could cause a TLS/SSL client using OpenSSL to crash. All OpenSSL users are advised to upgrade to these updated packages, which contain backported patches to correct these issues. For the update to take effect, all services linked to the OpenSSL library must be restarted, or the system rebooted.